tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3520904763520245316.post9099521416089690952..comments2024-03-28T02:00:32.006-07:00Comments on BarefootLawyers International: Making New from Old Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3520904763520245316.post-75047087917157548332014-03-31T08:18:01.764-07:002014-03-31T08:18:01.764-07:00Hi Antonin,
Great Post about how older technology...Hi Antonin,<br /><br />Great Post about how older technology can be more effective than new technology and it depends on how it's being used. I think it's relevant at the university level when it comes to collaboration projects. Even though we all have access to computers and a google doc, it's simply easier to brainstorm around a traditional whiteboard by jotting ideas down versus debating over it through a google doc. That clearly shows the relevance of the old versus the new. Johnny Linoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3520904763520245316.post-59734930463948529602014-03-06T12:48:28.842-08:002014-03-06T12:48:28.842-08:00Hi Antonin, this is truly insightful for someone w...Hi Antonin, this is truly insightful for someone who claims to have little ICT4D experience. Or maybe that might be the actual reason why the insights- too many ICT4Ders come into the field from the tech background, or are government/institutional people influenced by the coolness of new tech, and so tech becomes the logical focus of any project, leading to the dismal success rates reported so far. The best projects are the ones that respond to needs and uses appropriate technology, which most often include SMS, and even radio and TV. As I shared in class, one of the most successful projects I have seen is a radio DJ surfing a public policy website occasionally and repeating what he is reading, and then soliciting for listener feedback which he would then in turn input into the website. :) Good post!Sanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03901240757149572729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3520904763520245316.post-63634633515665515782014-02-24T21:51:04.967-08:002014-02-24T21:51:04.967-08:00Antonin, I loved this article! The mPedigree vide...Antonin, I loved this article! The mPedigree video was brilliant. Between that and Ruchita’s video of Professor Tapan Parikh explaining his “agriculture Q&A” software, it sounds like ICTD has been particularly useful at closing gaps between high-up knowledge institutions and BOP communities. BOP communities can experience extremely high rewards from receiving expert, bite-sized, and timely knowledge. Timothy Meyershttp://tim-meyers.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3520904763520245316.post-62196295502121248432014-02-23T23:09:19.629-08:002014-02-23T23:09:19.629-08:00Hi Antonin,
I agree with your main point - someti...Hi Antonin,<br /><br />I agree with your main point - sometimes I wonder if in trying to always innovate, innovate, innovate! people are cheated out of the benefits that come from long-term, stable projects. If new techniques are regularly abandoned for even newer techniques, the intended users are always stuck on a learning curve and benefits are not able to accrue.<br /><br />Still, your graphic makes me wonder about the case of cell phones. It looks like the number of new smart phone users is projected to grow by about 745% and the number of conventional cell phone users is projected to grow by only 44%. Even though it may be a while before the total number of smart phone users equals the number of conventional cell phone users, it is clearly heading in that direction and heading fast. In this case, do you think it might be wise to develop smart-phone specific technologies in Africa, to have them ready for this new generation of users? Or do you advocate sticking with SMS for conventional phones? It seems most practical to me to move forward with both paths, developing new useful apps for smart phones without forgetting the needs of those who use non-smart phones or still do not have access to cell phones at all.Crystanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3520904763520245316.post-70069227313272334972014-02-21T22:24:26.152-08:002014-02-21T22:24:26.152-08:00Hi Antonin,
Very interesting blog post indeed. T...Hi Antonin, <br /><br />Very interesting blog post indeed. The topic and visuals made the reading all the more interesting and even more engaging. I share most of the same sentiments when it comes to the spread of technology. <br /><br />One of my biggest challenges with the spread of technology is that I often feel that people are not given the choice whether to adopt or not to adopt (well theoretically they are), but technically I feel they are not. I will use your example here, let's say there is a mother who is anti cell phones and chooses to not have a phone. She would have to get one if not having a phone means possibly letting her sick child take the wrong/fake medicine. This is not an ICT issue though, it is a result of globalization and other issues (fraud in particular for this example). <br /><br />I also believe that a much deeper level of education should be carried out hand in hand with the spread of these devices. I know of so many individuals in Swaziland who have cell phones but only use them to receive calls and send messages because they do not know how else to use them. <br /><br />Great post! Now, I have to think of something else to blog about. Miss Sideenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3520904763520245316.post-49918338074841580992014-02-21T17:43:02.193-08:002014-02-21T17:43:02.193-08:00Hi Gustavo!
I totally agree with you. Sometimes o...Hi Gustavo!<br /><br />I totally agree with you. Sometimes old technologies can't do the job and new ones become necessary. We have to think each case separately. <br /><br />Therefore, to criticize my own blog post, it can even happen that new technologies are more suited, and adoption much faster than old technologies. It is the case in all the developing countries about the old Public switched telephone technology and the mobile phone technology mainly because of the cost of the infrastructures. Antonin Milzahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15050884984474912698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3520904763520245316.post-81030542716194083462014-02-21T17:32:00.679-08:002014-02-21T17:32:00.679-08:00Thanks a lot for your encouragements :) The thing ...Thanks a lot for your encouragements :) The thing is, of course new technologies are also very important, and you can't do everything with old ones, but I think it is better to use at 150% what you already have either than wait passively for new things and new technologies.<br /><br /> That being said, I think it is something we can also think about in our developed countries. I remember the first year of high school, I bought a all new and super sophisticated TI-89 calculator with so much memory and stuff. One guy in my class used to have "only" a basic and old calculator. Not only he was faster than me to use his calculator, but he was also able to do things with his simple calculator I even don't know the existence on my super awesome TI-89. I mastered my calculator at maybe 10% of its capacity, this guy mastered his calculator completely.Antonin Milzahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15050884984474912698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3520904763520245316.post-91281189175943466552014-02-20T18:47:37.130-08:002014-02-20T18:47:37.130-08:00Great post, Antonin! It was very informative and i...Great post, Antonin! It was very informative and interesting reading. Thank you for sharing it.<br /><br />I agree pretty much on everything you state, and I'd like to add that -in my opinion-, the "answer" to the question of "old vs new technology" is better found on analizing on case by case basis.<br />For instance, you make a pretty solid case in favor of non-smart mobile phones by describing the current african context -you describe even further the situation in Kenya.<br />In a different scenario -such as the techie community that Christina mentions- you might conclude that bringing in new technology might be beneficial.<br />Gustavo Pereyrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11934397331514167018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3520904763520245316.post-74884776904262484922014-02-20T16:10:33.569-08:002014-02-20T16:10:33.569-08:00Thanks for your detailed response, Antonin! I appr...Thanks for your detailed response, Antonin! I appreciate your experience in Cyber security, economics and information theory which I believe are exactly the fields we have to draw on in the field of ICT4D! I don't claim at all to have any more experience and was curious to hear more about what (and where) your experiences were. <br /><br />Yes, the mastery of technology at a purely technical level is immensely important and the best interventions probably combine all of these aspects--curiosity and understanding). <br /><br />I also totally agree with you that adoption takes time in every context, be it in the Global South or Global North. <br /><br />Thanks again for this post--very enlightening!Christina G.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10410511751244501226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3520904763520245316.post-14091347233537370592014-02-18T17:57:12.997-08:002014-02-18T17:57:12.997-08:00Hi Christina, thanks a lot for all your comments. ...Hi Christina, thanks a lot for all your comments. I am glad that my post interested you.<br /><br />Actually, I don't really have any experience in ICT4D, it is a all new subject for me. In France I have studied Cyber security, economics and information theory, so it is very different for me. My only 'experience' is the fact that I have traveled a lot since I am a little boy, so I have seen people way of life around the world. I don't have any ICTD experiences but I am very curious and glad to be with all of you in class to learn from your experiences and knowledge.<br /><br />You must be totally right about "mastery of technology" it was just a personal idea and I don't really have academic knowledge about it. That being said, I think that someone can be very curious about a new technology, but it doesn't mean he understands perfectly how it work. I think that to create innovations, you have not only to be very curious (and you are right, today a lot of, often very young, individuals are eager about IT) but you also have to understand the technical complexity. Because technologies are often proprietary it is difficult to understand how it work at the beginning. Nevertheless, over time people (power users at the beginning) understand it more and more and spread their knowledge progressively.<br /><br />Even if you have both (curiosity and understanding) it doesn't mean than the others do (older individuals, etc.). And because information technologies exhibits network effects (the utility of these technologies depend of how many people use it) it is sometimes a very long process before a technology can be massively adopted. It what I mean when I wrote "ready", but it concerned every country in the world, not only developing ones. Antonin Milzahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15050884984474912698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3520904763520245316.post-59873118840624198482014-02-18T17:23:30.723-08:002014-02-18T17:23:30.723-08:00Thanks a lot for your comment Ruchita, the video i...Thanks a lot for your comment Ruchita, the video is very interesting. Is there a website or something for this seminar course? It interested me a lot. Antonin Milzahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15050884984474912698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3520904763520245316.post-6279077554703555572014-02-18T17:16:46.758-08:002014-02-18T17:16:46.758-08:00Thanks Antonin for the very good analysis and anal...Thanks Antonin for the very good analysis and analogy. Your title by itself is very insightful. I am really impressed by the examples. You made a very good argument that we need to start innovating based on what we have on the ground rather than lingering around the new and expensive ones. I will love to hear more examples from other posters too. Y Hailehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02399552176541952043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3520904763520245316.post-27812029916112222022014-02-18T16:44:46.174-08:002014-02-18T16:44:46.174-08:00That's a great post, Antonin!
Your argument ...That's a great post, Antonin! <br /><br />Your argument reminded me a lot of Toyama's idea of technology as an amplifier that we read in class (https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-3AVyFkpf86ZWkxdGFFWHVtNlZEaXl3MkRma254ZmZxc0s0/edit). According to him, technology relies on underlying development interventions and cannot make a difference by itself.<br /><br />I agree with you that a technology can only make an impact if it reaches scale. You also make the clear case that SMS-based technologies are actually faring better than the newest technologies such as smart devices. This is definitely backed up by many industry studies including this one from the I-Hub based in Kenya who investigated which ones of their apps scaled successfully: http://blogs.worldbank.org/ic4d/files/ic4d/mobile_phone_usage_kenyan_base_pyramid.pdf<br /><br />Another point you make that I find intriguing is the “mastery of technology,” which really depends on how you define this mastery. In reality, I think that technology is usually developed to cater towards existing skill sets (at least in the West). But on the other hand, “mastery” could refer to technology design gaps such as language. So what I am trying to suggest is that if we designed new/revolutionary technologies better for the BoP, I don't see why they would not be adopted. In fact, I’m curious how you reached your conviction that people in developing countries might not be “ready” for newer technology innovations. Your example of an office worker who might be averse to adapting a new software version makes sense, but when I think about my interactions with increasingly young and tech-savvy individuals in developing countries, especially in cities, they are more than eager to try out new technologies! The real issue for them is the cost rather than consumer adoption.<br /><br />I'm curious what your experiences are!Christina G.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10410511751244501226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3520904763520245316.post-78613403531747160132014-02-18T15:07:45.366-08:002014-02-18T15:07:45.366-08:00Great blog post Antonin! These issues were part of...Great blog post Antonin! These issues were part of our discussions in the ICTD seminar course last fall at UCB. Typically, applying new technology to ICTD endeavors does not work very well unless a complete usability study is undertaken. Tap's (Tapan Parikh - faculty at UCB) research highlights how usability studies and needs assessment impacts technology as an enabler in ICTD projects. Here is a short video of Tap talking about mobile and voice based technology for developing economies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-QEcd-faNcruchitahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02487123934452994831noreply@blogger.com